His Excellency Turki Alalshikh reports that he’ll add the undisputed light heavyweight championship bout between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol to the 5-vs-5 Matchroom Boxing vs. Queensberry card on June 1st.
As good as the Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight is, it wouldn’t matter if His Excellency canceled his idea of packaging it with the 5-vs-5 British portion of the card because the main event is the real gem.
Undisputed Light-Heavyweight Showdown
It will be exciting to see WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (22-0, 10 KOs) try to outbox IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) in the main event on the card.
Bivol’s promoter Eddie Hearn is confident that he’ll be able to box his way to a decision against Beterbiev, but he could be off on this prediction.
Dmitry was hurt in his last fight by Lyndon Arthur last December, and looked afraid from the eighth round. That fight showed that Bivol doesn’t have the heart for give-and-take fights.
Beterbiev looks like an unstoppable force right now. He blasted through former WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith in seven rounds on January 13th in Quebec City, Canada.
Queensberry vs. Matchroom Rivalry Heats Up
The names of the fighters in the Matchroom Boxing vs. Queensberry Promotions event haven’t been revealed yet, but a couple of fighters have been mentioned.
Some names floated for the event, like Anthony Yarde and Callum Smith, have been knocked out recently. Those are exciting fighters, but they’re good enough to win world titles at 175. Those guys haven’t done much lately.
Seeing a fight between Yarde and Callum would have been nice if it took place in 2019 before their careers tanked.
Hopefully, the rest of the fighters on the 5-vs-5 portion of the June 1st card are good ones that fans want to see. I mean, I’m talking about ALL fans, not just ones from the UK. The hype about this event is now better than the details revealed thus far.
You’d hate to see fans disappointed when the fighters’ names are revealed, and that’s why it would have been better for the promoters to announce them right away.